Colm O’Donnell
CAO Applicant
I am not your typical college applicant. For one, I’ve been through the system already, albeit briefly. I spent two ill-fated years attempting to study a course which I was patently unsuited to. By the time I realised my mistake, I had failed through sheer stubbornness to get through the course, and indeed, failed out of college itself.
After that I have spent the past year working at home, on a farm in a rural part of the country, big switch from city living. Things were put in perspective, the chance that I was given, the opportunities we take for granted. A year of hard work, introspection and thought went into answering the obvious questions. What did I want to do with my life? What would it take to get there? Did I need a University education? (Yes). What should I study?
I am not a fan of the third level educational system in this country. For every person who knew from the age of ten what they wanted to be, and grew up to live that dream, there are many who hit 25 and still don’t have a clue where life is taking them. Coming out of secondary school, I wasn’t ready to make the major life decision that choosing a very specific area of study for four years entails.
The vast majority of 3rd level courses in this country are very specific areas of study. There are the general ones, Science and BESS in Trinity, Arts in UCD, among others, but I would like to contrast this with the system that exists across the pond, in the United States of America; going into most third level colleges most students will have a general idea of where they want to aim their studies towards, and they will name a ‘Major’. If you are unsure, you are ‘Undeclared’ and free to take classes in areas of interest until you find a Major that suits you. The University of Texas at Austin, one of the biggest Universities in America, and indeed the world, has an undergraduate population of 39,463. Of each incoming class of freshmen (roughly 10,000) 2,000 or 20% are Undeclared. Sixty five percent of all of the students at this University change majors during the course of their studies.
I’m not saying that it is impossible to change the course of your studies mid-degree in Ireland, but anyone who has ever attempted it – successfully or not – knows that it is a very difficult and annoying process. I chose a course that I thought would get me a good job – and there is nothing wrong with doing that – but I compromised an overarching interest in the subject matter for the concept of being successful, whatever it is that that means.
Growing up I loved to read. I still do. English was my favourite subject and I was shy about writing, but have become more open about it as time has gone on. I never suspected that I might be very good at it in school until the day of my Leaving Cert results, when I got a surprise A1. I’m not boasting here, but the highest mark I ever got in an assignment or test in the two previous years was in the low 80’s, and I was averaging in the mid 70’s. Part of this (I suspect) was the work of a cunning teacher under-marking in order to motivate us to work harder.
Anyway, the point of this anecdote is that by the time I got this result, my decisions on a college course had been finalised two months previously. I don’t think that we should deprive students of having the information of what it is they excel in, when they make the decision of what to pursue in their education, even if it might only be the rare case, such as myself, who realise it a little too late.
While I was at home during the last year, a funny thing happened: I met a number of my old teachers, one who taught me in Play-School, and one who taught me in 2nd class, when I told both of them of what it was I had studied and that I intended to study English, they both had the same reaction. They lambasted me for not doing that in the first place, and had a story about me being inseparable from a book at a young age. I hope that I will be studying English in some form or another come September, and I know that I will enjoy every moment, and be thankful for the opportunity.
The old saying goes, ‘with age comes wisdom’, and I’m not claiming to be Aristotle here at the tender age still of 21, but I certainly have a different worldview than 18 year old me. I will be approaching college with a more mature attitude towards work, attendance, and preparation. Not that I intend to miss out on all the fun.
